Wild weather over the weekend throughout Victoria, Australia, has left the 2010 UCI Road World Championship organisers with some mopping up to do, as parts of the Geelong course lay under water on Monday. Fortunately the severe weather system that caused the Barwon River to swell occurred three weeks before the cycling world’s attention is focused on Geelong, giving the floods time to subside before the world’s best cyclists start arriving Down Under.

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The two sections of the course affected by flooding includes a temporary bridge and pathway that’s been constructed specifically for the event in Queens Park, as the existing bridge – which sits much higher up – wasn’t wide enough to meet the UCI’s technical requirements. Debris from the rainfall further up the 160 kilometre long river was stuck alongside the bridge today, as the water level sat just inches from the bridge’s surface level, while a tree at the entry of the bridge had shifted awkwardly across the bridge’s mouth as the soil around it was eroded away.

The other section of the course hit by flooding was Barrabool Rd, which was closed to traffic throughout Monday due to the extent of flooding. A local government official told The Geelong Advertiser that Mt Pleasant Rd could be used as an alternative to Barrabool Rd in the event that flooding was an issue closer to race day.

Before:

The bridge during construction with the river's water level at its normal height.

After:

The bridge on Monday with flood levels yet to reach their expected peak. Photo: The Geelong Advertiser

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